


Irrevocable

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Merlin (TV)
Genre: Advice, Bad Decisions, Class Differences, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Duty, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-09
Updated: 2011-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-25 01:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2603960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some choices, once made, cannot be taken back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Irrevocable

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NotoriousReign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotoriousReign/gifts).



> This ficlet was written for [notoriousreign](http://notoriousreign.livejournal.com) in [caramelsilver](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com)'s [Three Sentence Ficathon 2011](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/140906.html), in response to the prompt: _[Game of Thrones/Merlin, Robb/Gwen, choices](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/140906.html?thread=2559594#t2559594)_.
> 
> I ended up using ASOIAF-canon rather than _Game of Thrones_ -canon, since I've read the books but never watched the series. In terms of _Merlin_ canon, this veers AU mid-Season 4, after Gwen's banishment.

Jeyne's maid -- a quiet young woman with curly hair, dusky skin, and a softly foreign accent -- brings Robb the news from Winterfell, presenting him the raven-scratched letter with a respectful curtsey and gentle empathy in her eyes; she shuts the door and turns her back while he reads and feels the first shock of loss like steel through his guts.

"My lady wishes you to know that she shares your grief," the maid says, "and that whatever comfort she can offer is yours."

When Robb rises -- when did he fall? he has no memory of sinking to the hard stone floor -- and makes to open the door, the maid stops him, her work-roughened hand steady and oddly strong where she grips his wrist. Startled, he looks down and realizes that for all her courtesy, she meets his eyes as if facing an equal, not a commoner to a king.

"Some choices, once made, cannot be taken back," the maid says. "My lady has a great heart, as do you, but monarchs must think of their people before themselves. You have given your word of honor to the Freys--"

"A pox on the Freys," Robb snarls. "They have no honor, no more than Theon proved to have, nor the whole world. Grey Wind and Jeyne are the only ones who have been true to me, and that is worth a kingdom."

The maid steps back and lets him go, and he buries his grief in Jeyne's arms. But as dawn eases cold and grey over the horizon, Robb finds himself haunted by the regret and understanding in her eyes. He has reshaped his life with one night's action, and he cannot help but wonder what choice led Jeyne's maid to the Westerlands and the Crag, and whether she would change it if she had the chance. He wonders if he would change his own path.

But time turns back for no one, and Jeyne is warm in his arms. Robb sighs, and prepares to forge his path anew through the chaos of his ruined world.


End file.
